My younger sister insisted on marrying me and made me the Marquis' wife.

Chapter 135 Testing each other
After returning to the tea stall, the three of them recited their own poems.

Lin Ziqi looked at Qin Siyuan with a gloomy look in his eyes and said, "Brother Siyuan's poems today are very different from the past."

Qin Siyuan also said: "Ziqi's poems today have a more profound and elegant style, which is different from his usual style."

Both of them felt that something was wrong with the other.

There are many temptations in words.

But he couldn't say it clearly, so he suppressed his inner emotions and worked on the remaining poetry topics carefully.

Poems by other people have also been produced one after another.

Even Gu Jingjun did five of the eight questions.

After everyone passed the poems around, they all praised Qin Siyuan's poems, saying they were smart and grand, and sometimes majestic, and they were the best. Lin Ziqi's poems were also good, especially the one about fishing, but overall, he was still inferior.

The last one in the list is Mr. Gu Liu.

Master Gu Liu didn't care at all, but was happy for Qin Siyuan, saying: "My dear brother, you are too humble and low-key on weekdays. Your poems are very well written. I'm sure many people will know about them and recite them."

Lin Ziqi couldn't help but frown.

Gu Liuye, who was dancing with joy and could not see Lin Ziqi's expression, said, "Why don't I have these poems copied out and compiled into a collection, and make it a collection of our poetry club, and send it out so that others can have a look."

Several scholars who were not short of money immediately seconded the proposal, "You two are talented, and will surely be able to pass the imperial examination. It would be such a blessing for us to be included in the same poetry collection with the future Jinshi master. Master Gu Liu's proposal is really elegant."

Lin Ziqi didn't say anything.

He initiated this poetry society with these considerations in mind.

The rich contribute money, the strong contribute their strength, and he contributes his talent.

But now, all that he had painstakingly arranged had to be shared mostly with Qin Siyuan, which made him a little unhappy.

But I can't refuse this kindness that comes to my doorstep, which is really disgusting.

Qin Siyuan smiled and said, "This will take a lot of effort."

Gu Liuye has been a dilettante for many years, so he is naturally very familiar with it. He immediately said, "No problem. I can find a few poor scholars to copy it. My family's shop can do the binding. I can copy more. If the poems of the two are spread, we will also become famous. How can we not do such a good thing?"

"That's right," the others echoed.

Qin Siyuan had no objection.

The owner of the tea stall came out and said with a smile, "The two gentlemen who were drinking tea here just now left a message, asking me to copy down a copy of your poems so that they can have a look when they come back from the mountain."

Lin Ziqi was both happy and angry. He was happy that his poems were accepted by the two adults as he had wished.

What made him angry was that he had misjudged Qin Siyuan, the so-called upright gentleman, and was taken advantage of by him.

Gu Jingjun asked in surprise: "My Lords?"

The host smiled and said, "Yes, one of these two gentlemen is the Minister of Rites, and the other is the academic commissioner of the capital. You are lucky to have caught the eyes of these two gentlemen."

Everyone was smiling.

Even Gu Jingjun, who was the worst at writing poetry, was delighted.

Lin Ziqi said, "Then I'd better obey your command."

He began to copy it. Out of selfishness, he ignored the name of Qin Siyuan's poem. The host standing next to him said, "The two adults said that the author's name must be left on every poem."

Lin Ziqi smiled awkwardly and said, "I forgot. I was in a hurry to copy it just now."

Qin Siyuan looked over and said with a smile: "Why don't you copy it and I will help you proofread it."

"...Alright...thank you for your help."

The two of them had their own thoughts, but no one else noticed. After copying the poem and giving a copy to the tea stall owner and Gu Jingjun, Lin Ziqi asked, "Do you want to continue the tour, or go your separate ways?"

The purpose of the poetry club today has been achieved, and Lin Ziqi can't wait any longer.

Qin Siyuan asked Gu Jingjun: "Do you want to go back?"

Gu Jingjun pulled Qin Siyuan and said, “My dear brother, the scenery here is so beautiful, why don’t we take a walk and have you recite poems with me along the way?”

He was in high spirits and wished he could write poetry till late into the night.

Lin Ziqi said, "I have something else to do at home, so I'm afraid I can't accompany you two."

When the others saw Lin Ziqi was leaving, they also said, "We are leaving too. Mr. Lin, please take our car back to the city with us."

Lin Ziqi responded with a smile.

Qin Siyuan wanted to take Gu Jingjun's car, so he walked with him along the edge of Yuyuantan Lake. The two of them talked and quarreled with each other as they walked, which was quite interesting.

As we were walking, we heard a commotion ahead, saying that someone had fallen into the water, and it was a woman.

The two men stopped far away, standing behind the weeping willows on the embankment. Through the hanging willow branches, they saw people on a houseboat not far away jumping down one after another. Another person stood on the houseboat pointing at the water and shouting, as if giving instructions on how to save people. After a long time, the people were finally pulled onto the boat.

Gu Jinghui speculated, “Maybe she was a prostitute accompanying guests. Some people rely on their family background to bully those girls. There are always some who cannot bear humiliation and jumped into the water in anger.”

Qin Siyuan thought of Qin Yuan's words and couldn't help but said, "You should avoid going on lake tours like this in the future. It will give you a bad reputation if it gets out. You are different from them, so why bother?"

Qin Siyuan felt that he was being abrupt when he said this, but he didn't expect Gu Jinghui to agree without any hesitation.

Seeing that the sun was setting, the two of them did not linger any longer. When passing Hengjie Avenue, Gu Jingjun looked out of the car window and seemed to see a figure. He said in surprise, "Stop, stop."

The carriage stopped and Gu Jingjun got off in a hurry, but he was no longer visible.

Qin Siyuan followed him down and asked, "Did you see anyone?"

"I didn't see it very clearly. Maybe I saw it wrongly."

Qin Siyuan said, "This is not far from the Qin Mansion. Why don't you and I say goodbye here?"

Gu Jingjun insisted on sending him to the Qin residence. After the two got out of the car, they talked reluctantly for a long time before parting.

Qin Siyuan returned to the small courtyard, changed into his old clothes, picked up a book, but he couldn't concentrate on reading.

The second aunt came in and asked, "Siyuan, didn't you go to Yuyuantan with Master Lin today? Why did he come back first today and talk strangely when he saw me?"

When you live under someone else's roof, you will inevitably care about what others say and do, and any slight disturbance will affect your mood.

Qin Siyuan snorted and laughed, and said indifferently: "He is a stranger, what can he say?"

The second aunt said, "He said something about being a gentleman, doing things honestly, and not taking shortcuts..."

Qin Siyuan was so angry that he laughed, "I wanted to say this to him."

"how?"

Remembering that this matter also involved Qin Yuan, Qin Siyuan stopped talking and said vaguely: "Mom, you should just ignore his words. He is the one who is taking advantage of the situation. I can't say anything else."

The second aunt knew her son's character, and nodded when she heard it, saying, "Then I won't disturb you from studying, go to bed early."

Qin Siyuan thought to himself, this Lin Ziqi is really shameless. First, he coveted the second sister's identity and dowry and ruined his engagement with the eldest sister, and then he plagiarized the eldest sister's poems. Did he think that if he made a few minor changes, people wouldn't be able to tell?

Then he thought again, the elder sister is very talented, and Lin Ziqi is not as good as before after the change.

He will regret it later.

When Gu Jingjun returned to the Marquis' Mansion, he realized that the place was in chaos. He immediately rushed to the outer courtyard, grabbed Gu Jinghui, and said, "Third brother, I think I saw that woman."

(End of this chapter)